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4 Happiness Hacks For That Post-Travel Let Down

Conferences, vacations – any time out of the office, away from it all – are great times to reflect and learn ways you can be a better person, at home and at work. But returning to the office can quickly sap that post-travel glow. If you’re like me, planning the next holiday break to a new destination is a great antidote – and for that, we’ve got you covered. Unfortunately though, we still have to get back on track until we can getaway again.

Here’s to heel-clicking happiness, maybe just not in the middle of the street. photo: Andre Hunter

Putting Happiness Into Practice

All too often, the demands of our work quickly erase that kumbaya feeling you get after a vacation or listening to inspiring speakers at a conference. As a result, important changes don’t happen because they require a ton of time or effort – like reading a book or completing some time-intensive soul-searching exercises.

Meaningful change though, is often the result of the cumulative effect of consistent, daily effort. Like my high school Coach Stroker liked to say “get a little bit better, every day.” (It’s also a core team value here at TripTuner).

In the end it’s up to us to “be the change we want to see in the world” as Mohandas Gandhi once famously said. Fortunately, there are a few quick hacks you can do today – right now – that are scientifically proven to improve your happiness.

Allow me to follow speaker Erik Qualman’s lead and “post it forward” by sharing a few happiness hacks for home and work from U.S. Travel’s recent ESTO conference in Austin.

Work in 20 minute sprints.

Erik shared how focusing on a single task is critical in our always-on connected world of endless feeds. He suggested a 20-20-20 rule: breaking the work day into 20 minute segments, taking 20 second breaks after each one to stand up and focus on an object 20 feet away.

The American Optometric Association recommends it as a proven way to reduce eye strain from peering into monitors all day. As you can imagine, this can get repetitive over a full day, so for a more nuanced approach check out the Pomodoro Technique developed by Frances Cirillo, another easy to implement productivity method.

Walk in nature, unplugged.

This was part of a number of suggestions shared by Neil Pasricha, author of The Book of Awesome. To be more precise, his R/X was for 20 minutes of brisk walking in nature – without your phone (that may be the hardest part for some). Like many of these suggestions there’s science behind “forest bathing” – namely the phytoncides that trees give off lower the level of cortisol, a stress hormone.

Write thank you notes. To Yourself.

Another one from Pasricha – he talked about the power of gratitude and empathy in helping us get out of emotional ruts. Thanking others should be frequent and routine (yes, I’m assuming the best of you, that you were raised properly). But we tend to be our own worst critics, so spending time each day to reflect and simply write down your thoughts and what you’re thankful for will go a long way. Got writer’s block? According to Neil, even reviewing your past notes has proven to be beneficial.

Read for Fun.

OK so citing a Lifehacker article within this happiness hack is sooo meta, but it does show how reading before bed has been proven to lower stress levels and get better sleep. As Pasricha points out, literary fiction is best and even better if it’s an actual physical book – the glare from screens can interfere with sleep patterns.

Bring on the phytoncides! photo: Aslan Can

Workplace Happiness, Delivered

Happiness is not just about your well-being — it’s also the right way to do business. When we’re happier as individuals, we do better work and are more likely to succeed.

Just ask Tony Hseih, Founder & CEO of Zappos. I read his book, Delivering Happiness after hearing him speak at a DC Tech Week conference 9 years ago when I was in the planning phase of TripTuner.

Happiness is a core value at Zappos. It’s earned them a well-deserved reputation for amazing customer service – a direct result of their focus on building personal emotional connections with customers.

Creating customer empathy and establishing an emotional connection with your customers is a critical task for today’s digital marketers, as we’ve discussed before. Developing a strategy for that at work may take some time, but it can start with you. Today.

Clap Along Now

Now that you’ve got 4 quick ways to do it, you can clap along and sing, “I’m Happy” all day!

Just don’t do it a) on your unplugged nature walk b) while you’re reading or writing or c) without headphones on – your colleague may be deep into a 20 minute work session!